Are you happy with the way your nipples turned out or would you change something if you could?
I've seen many top surgery pictures - and in some of them (many of them) the nipples are a bit visually "off"... I have an issue about this. So far I've only come across one surgeon who took extra care with placing the nipples (he actually carefully measured the chest while doing the surgery).
To my horror, most surgeons (what I've understood) just draw them on beforehand :/! I have a VERY big chest and this method seems a bit... careless. Of course, I don't know for sure!
However, even if you weren't 100% happy with the placement of them, does having a flat chest etc. really make this a non-issue? And, of course, why obsess about something you can't change... right?
I'm sorry if this is a triggering question. It's just... This is my main concern about top surgery, because, after all I have to live with that chest for the rest of my life! If I FINALLY have it done, I'd rather have a very good surgeon and a natural looking male chest! I feel I'd hate it if my chest didn't look "right"! I might be conscious about it shirtless, too, and everything.
And I don't mean just some minor nipple shape issues - some pics I've seen actually clearly have the nipples in the "wrong places" :/! (Too high, too centered, in the armpit... Or too big or too tiny areolas...) After all, it's the surgeon's "fault" if he's not skilled enough to put them right, right?
Do you guys agree with all of this? Or should I relax and concentrate on just having the surgery done and be happy with my new flat chest...? But still :/! This freaks me out...... Anyone? Have you thought out these things too?
Were your fears unfounded and were you happy with your chest after all? [Btw I don't speak about how awful/blotched the chest looks right after surgery, but the esthetic look of it after it has healed.]
And if you have any advice about this, like does working out really affect the results etc. etc. - go ahead :)!
My chest won't have the final result until another 8 months but thought I'd add my thoughts anyhow. I went to the best surgeon possible and am happy overall with the aesthetics of my chest. Maybe the left side the areola is too close to the centre but that wouldn't have occurred to me if someone else hadn't of mentioned that issue in another post. And my nipples are still inverted; my right side more than my left. And the areola on my right is more rectangular. Maybe something to do with picking at the scabs. But these things are all inconsequential and something only I'd notice. At least my chest is now flat and I now longer have to wear a binder
To add it's important to mentally prepare yourself for any cosmetic type procedure. It's never going to be perfect even if you go to the best. And if it's perfect it'll often look odd and fake. If you look at cis mens chests they often have the same issues as I've mentioned about my chest.
Elis is right - many people go in for surgery with this idea that they'll come out looking like their mind's-eye image of a perfect male chest. I think a realistic approach to what you're having done is best.
Images of immediate post-surgery typically look bad. It takes about a year for everything to heal up and look like it's "normal", and occasionally some extra work might be needed. It also helps when the person works out a bit post-surgery to improve the pectoral muscle mass.
Goes without saying you should probably aim for the best surgeon you can find, and have a good dialogue with them about what it is you want. There's lots of success stories out there and relatively few horror stories (at least, from what I can see). So I think most people come away being satisfied, and if not there's usually the option to have some tweaks. No pun intended.
Quote from: PurpleWolf on November 18, 2017, 02:04:52 AM
Are you happy with the way your nipples turned out or would you change something if you could?
I've seen many top surgery pictures - and in some of them (many of them) the nipples are a bit visually "off"... I have an issue about this. So far I've only come across one surgeon who took extra care with placing the nipples (he actually carefully measured the chest while doing the surgery).
To my horror, most surgeons (what I've understood) just draw them on beforehand :/! I have a VERY big chest and this method seems a bit... careless. Of course, I don't know for sure!
However, even if you weren't 100% happy with the placement of them, does having a flat chest etc. really make this a non-issue? And, of course, why obsess about something you can't change... right?
I'm sorry if this is a triggering question. It's just... This is my main concern about top surgery, because, after all I have to live with that chest for the rest of my life! If I FINALLY have it done, I'd rather have a very good surgeon and a natural looking male chest! I feel I'd hate it if my chest didn't look "right"! I might be conscious about it shirtless, too, and everything.
And I don't mean just some minor nipple shape issues - some pics I've seen actually clearly have the nipples in the "wrong places" :/! (Too high, too centered, in the armpit... Or too big or too tiny areolas...) After all, it's the surgeon's "fault" if he's not skilled enough to put them right, right?
Do you guys agree with all of this? Or should I relax and concentrate on just having the surgery done and be happy with my new flat chest...? But still :/! This freaks me out...... Anyone? Have you thought out these things too?
Were your fears unfounded and were you happy with your chest after all? [Btw I don't speak about how awful/blotched the chest looks right after surgery, but the esthetic look of it after it has healed.]
And if you have any advice about this, like does working out really affect the results etc. etc. - go ahead :)!
I'm not going to lie, I too don't want offset nipples. I simply can't tolerate them. I'm not saying that I want "absolutely perfectly-placed nipples," but I DO want a surgeon that's willing to take the extra step and measure before placing them.
If I can't be 100% happy with their placement, then why am I paying the surgeon to do what may amounts to "cosmetic" surgery on me?
I also should mention that I'm planning to have the relatively new "drawstring" chest surgery when I finally have mine done.
I'm subscribing to this thread in case someone else says anything. Thank you, @purplewolf for asking this!
Ryuichi
Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
Thank you Ryuichi for sharing my thoughts! This is an old thread of mine and never really got responses... I thought maybe I came across a bit harsh... :D!
But what I really meant was just what you described: if you're paying for surgery, then is it
really too much to ask the surgeon places the nipples aesthetically right?! Imo NOT!!!
This really bothers me that some surgeons are careless. The surgeon has the power to cut them in any shape whatsoever - and place them in any place whatsoever on the chest - so
why can't they just place them in the 'right' spot???
To me that seems like a creative process - do you have an eye for that?
Unfortunately I've seen some chests that I can visually automatically point out where the nipples
should be if that was a cisman's chest - but they just aren't. Like sure the surgeons aren't blind...!!! And having the right-sized nipples and in the right place just makes all the difference of how the chest looks after all. The worst pics I've seen include the nipples too centered and it looks just weird, like a woman's chest... :/
Anyway it sucks but I may not be able to afford a good surgeon after all... :/// So kiiinda mentally prepared that the result might be whatever - but at least I'll get a flat chest then... Or maybe it can be tweaked later on.
The overall skill of the surgeon is one thing - but still think whoever does that operation still has the power to put the nipples right or wrong... xD! So why can't they just take extra care and measure the chest properly?!! Like why?? After all they're getting paid for doing that... :P Or don't they just really care? Honestly?
Actually this nipple thing annoys me more than the overall surgery in itself.
Quote from: Ryuichi13 on March 02, 2018, 08:29:20 AM
If I can't be 100% happy with their placement, then why am I paying the surgeon to do what may amounts to "cosmetic" surgery on me?
Exactly...!
Quote from: PurpleWolf on March 02, 2018, 01:12:46 PM
Thank you Ryuichi for sharing my thoughts! This is an old thread of mine and never really got responses... I thought maybe I came across a bit harsh... :D!
But what I really meant was just what you described: if you're paying for surgery, then is it really too much to ask the surgeon places the nipples aesthetically right?! Imo NOT!!!
This really bothers me that some surgeons are careless. The surgeon has the power to cut them in any shape whatsoever - and place them in any place whatsoever on the chest - so why can't they just place them in the 'right' spot???
To me that seems like a creative process - do you have an eye for that?
Unfortunately I've seen some chests that I can visually automatically point out where the nipples should be if that was a cisman's chest - but they just aren't. Like sure the surgeons aren't blind...!!! And having the right-sized nipples and in the right place just makes all the difference of how the chest looks after all. The worst pics I've seen include the nipples too centered and it looks just weird, like a woman's chest... :/
Anyway it sucks but I may not be able to afford a good surgeon after all... :/// So kiiinda mentally prepared that the result might be whatever - but at least I'll get a flat chest then... Or maybe it can be tweaked later on.
The overall skill of the surgeon is one thing - but still think whoever does that operation still has the power to put the nipples right or wrong... xD! So why can't they just take extra care and measure the chest properly?!! Like why?? After all they're getting paid for doing that... [emoji14] Or don't they just really care? Honestly?
Actually this nipple thing annoys me more than the overall surgery in itself.
Exactly...!
IKR? How hard is it to take the extra time and make sure that nipples are placed correctly? I'm paying them to do GREAT work, not just "okay" work!!!
This thread helped me jot down some questions I'm going to ask BEFORE I have any top surgery, like "do you measure or eyeball nipple placement?" I have a whole list started to ask just these kind of questions.
If I can avoid extra surgeries, you damn well better believe I'm going to do so!!!
Ryuichi
Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
Quote from: Ryuichi13 on March 02, 2018, 01:24:09 PM
I'm paying them to do GREAT work, not just "okay" work!!!
This thread helped me jot down some questions I'm going to ask BEFORE I have any top surgery, like "do you measure or eyeball nipple placement?"
Haha, yeah! What concerns me the most is what I mentioned in the first post: that it seems the surgeon just marks the places beforehand with a marker - when they also mark the lines under the tissue where they're gonna cut. I ofc don't know for sure - but the videos etc I've seen on this it does seem that's all they do :o! Like... they don't even eyeball during the surgery...! At least - that might explain why so many people have the nipples 'off'... I mean - ofc the chest's gonna look strikingly different after all that tissue is removed... like seriously??? But I'm not 100% sure of this...
But...
why do they draw the places on beforehand then if they're not gonna stick the nipples on those places I do wonder :P
Quote from: PurpleWolf on March 02, 2018, 01:40:21 PM
Haha, yeah! What concerns me the most is what I mentioned in the first post: that it seems the surgeon just marks the places beforehand with a marker - when they also mark the lines under the tissue where they're gonna cut. I ofc don't know for sure - but the videos etc I've seen on this it does seem that's all they do :o! Like... they don't even eyeball during the surgery...! At least - that might explain why so many people have the nipples 'off'... I mean - ofc the chest's gonna look strikingly different after all that tissue is removed... like seriously??? But I'm not 100% sure of this...
But... why do they draw the places on beforehand then if they're not gonna stick the nipples on those places I do wonder [emoji14]
I honestly couldn't tell you why surgeons draw on you before the surgery. Like you said, the placement will change once the extra tissue is removed. Its a real headscratcher.
Yet another reason why I'm doing plenty of research before getting my top surgery!
Ryuichi
Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
Quote from: Ryuichi13 on March 02, 2018, 11:30:07 PM
I honestly couldn't tell you why surgeons draw on you before the surgery. Like you said, the placement will change once the extra tissue is removed. Its a real headscratcher.
Yet another reason why I'm doing plenty of research before getting my top surgery!
You should... coz... I think I just had a confirmation for that on another forum... :P
At least one guy said 'the surgeon drew them on on funny places coz he explained the placement will shift once you are on the table plus lying down etc.' So.... that'd mean they do actually draw them on beforehand like I was scared of... :P
Do your research man! I've come across at least one surgeon (think he might've been in Marlyland) in a YouTube video - and he did explain carefully measuring the chest on the table!!! I guess the others just draw them on before the operation then.........
I've always thought if that's really the case you should have a say then right?! Like you could take a look in a mirror and say, 'hey I wanna this nipple here and this one there' right???
Plus the vids I've seen of them drawing them on with a marker always look like this:
The surgeon ofc draws the lines under the breasts where they're gonna cut. Then they just do a couple of quick circles on the breasts carelessly!!! Like... they def don't 'measure' anything not even with their eyes.......!!!
Like line - line -circle -cirle -done!
No comment.......
And another thing you should pay attention to, just saying:
Imo male areolas are not totally round (like female ones) but rather 'flat', and usually horizontally. I've seen many surgeons will cut them oval - BUT place them in an upright position. If I'm not wrong I think I even so a text explaining this, saying that they'll put them upright so they will become horizonal with time... :P
Ofc this is not true...!!! I've seen many trans men chests where they have oval areolas in an upright position... Like... the way you cut it & place it - it's gonna stay that way!
So something you should probably mention to that surgeon then...
There's actually a lot of variation in cis men's nipple shapes and sizes.
But anyway, a bit of asymmetry is sometimes unavoidable depending on what the surgeon has to work with in the first place. Some people are just asymmetrical to begin with. The surgeon will try to make it look symmetrical, but you sign a form that says you accept the possible risks of asymmetry and they won't do it without you signing that form, lol.
I've been assigned who appears to be a decent surgeon looking at his results, they all look pretty symmetrical, so barring any horrors with healing I expect the result will be enough even if it's not absolutely perfect. Honestly I don't expect to be admiring my own chest in future anyway, I just want it to be flat, basically normal looking and healed up right. It doesn't have to be a Greek sculpt. . .
I imagine they draw on you before surgery because the entire area gets swabbed with brown iodine and covered with a green sheet first, and it's useful to have some guide marks, even if they are just rough ones.
Quote from: Kylo on March 03, 2018, 09:44:00 AM
Honestly I don't expect to be admiring my own chest in future anyway, I just want it to be flat, basically normal looking and healed up right. It doesn't have to be a Greek sculpt. . .
Haha ;D!
Quote from: Kylo on March 03, 2018, 09:44:00 AM
I imagine they draw on you before surgery because the entire area gets swabbed with brown iodine and covered with a green sheet first, and it's useful to have some guide marks, even if they are just rough ones.
Hope so...
My nipples are correctly placed, but they're not uniform in size... one is really good, but the other has a weird shape to it (looks like the stitches have got loose and it hasn't healed correctly) and is slightly bigger than the other... so I hope they will fix that, it's only been 2 weeks after all.